Canonical to dump GNOME

Canonical's Mark Shuttleworth has decided that the next release of the Linux operating system, Ubuntu 11.04, will use Unity as the default desktop interface.

While based on GNOME, it is Canonical's own take on what an interface should look and act like. Shuttleworth said that "users want Unity as their primary desktop" and that Ubuntu had "A lot of work to do around windows management but that it would become the default" when they're sure that it will work.”

Ubuntu Unity will default to either a single window, single foreground application on netbooks, or a multiple windows, multi-foreground interface on a desktop or laptop. Users can still use the GNOME desktop or the closest thing GNOME has to Unity, the GNOME Shell if they really want. Shuttleworth is sure they won't.